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Industry Security Notice

Number 2014/01

Subject: Government Security Classification Scheme

Introduction:

1. This Industry Security Notice is re-issued to include a new version of Annex A.

2. On the 2 April 2014 the United Kingdom Government will move to the new Government

Security Classification (GSC) policy which will replace the existing Government Protective

Marking Scheme (GPMS). This Industry Security Notice provides information on various

aspects of the application of the GSC and how it impacts on Ministry of Defence (MOD)

national and international industrial security processes and procedures currently applied under

the GPMS.

Issue:

3. The GSC introduces a 3 tier security classification policy of OFFICIAL, SECRET, and TOP

SECRET identified as below:

OFFICIAL

This category is for the

majority of information

created or processed by

government and includes

both routine business

and some sensitive

information.

SECRET

Very sensitive

information that justifies

heightened protective

measures to defend

against determined and

highly capable threats

TOP SECRET

This category of

information is the most

sensitive requiring the

highest levels of

protection from the most

serious threats.

4. The changes in the security requirements to the SECRET and TOP SECRET tiers are minimal,

however, the changes to the lower tier are more significant as the new policy consolidates

national

NOT

PROTECTIVELY

MARKED,

PROTECT,

RESTRICTED,

and

some

CONFIDENTIAL information under GPMS into the single ‘OFFICIAL’ tier. In general MOD will

not require its contractors to routinely mark OFFICIAL information under GSC; however there

are some exceptions to this rule which are outlined in this Industry Security Notice.

5. The OFFICIAL tier allows for particularly sensitive OFFICIAL information to be identified using

an additional handling caveat “SENSITIVE” all such information must be marked OFFICIALSENSITIVE.

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6. There is no direct correlation between the GSC classification policy...